UK customs preparing dossier on drug find
By Patrick Denny
Stabroek News
June 21, 2003
The UK customs authorities will be transmitting information to Guyana about the June 7, $1.9B cocaine find on a ship carrying timber.
A senior government official, who has been in touch with the HM Customs and Excise Department, told Stabroek News that it had asked for a bit more time to complete a dossier on the incident. The law enforcement authorities here need the information to conduct their own investigations.
The official said that apparently a number of ships were involved in smuggling the drugs to the UK and there were a number of exporters now under scrutiny but he declined to give detailed information.
He did say that the exporter who told Stabroek News that his company had not shipped any timber to the United Kingdom after January could not be telling the truth or must have forgotten about the other shipments.
On June 7, officers from HM Customs and Excise, the National Crime Squad and the Gwent Police arrested seven men in connection with the 120 kilos of cocaine found in a Wales warehouse.
Informed sources have told Stabroek News that the consignment of timber left here on April 29 in two containers - one sealed and one flat-rack on the EWL Venezuela. The EWL Venezuela arrived in the United Kingdom on May 19.
The consignment was apparently kept under surveillance until it was collected and tracked to South Wales. Following the June 7 arrests HM Customs said that the shipment arrived on May 29, but sources here contend that this was the date on which the consignment left Felixstowe container port en route for Newport, Wales where the arrests were made.
The seven persons arrested and charged on June 7 appeared in the Caerphilly Magistrates Court on June 9 and 16 and are on remand until their next court appearance on July 14. They are hairdresser Anthony Chambers, Businessmen Lebert Barrows of Jamaica and Gerald Davies, civil servant Milton Watson, accountant Mohamed Shaheen, transport manager Michael Silcox and business development manager Joseph Salmon. With the exception of Barrows all the accused reside in South Wales in the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile the Forest Products Association, concerned about the impact of the incident on the industry said that it “would be willing to work with others to put effective measures in place to minimise the risk of such incidents happening in the future” as a large number of timber and lumber exporters were not members of its association.
“Currently, anyone can purchase lumber and ship it out, once they have the co-operation of a recognised timber exporter/licensed timber dealer.”
The FPA repeated its call for the establishment of a formal Marketing Council as it had felt for some time now that there was a need for co-ordination of marketing through such a body. “The government, the FPA and all other stakeholders should make a serious effort towards establishing the Council.”
Expressing its concern about the discovery of the cocaine, the FPA says that it “will impact seriously on the already depressed industry” and “means that stricter checks have to be carried out and producers have to be prepared for some amount of double handling.”
“It has been noted that some shippers have already been asked by Customs to have additional labour and packing materials on hand for re-packing, where bundles are opened for Customs inspection. This amounts to additional costs in materials and labour.”
The FPA says that it “appears that the lumber exporter was only a facilitator and this method of hiding illegal substances has come to the attention of criminal elements in our society. In light of these prevailing illegal activities and in order to keep timber products competitive, it will be imperative that the Customs and the FPA work out effective measures for the process of exporting timber, that are not `high cost’ and over complicated”.
